


from A to Z

by Virareve



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-28 00:03:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2711612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Virareve/pseuds/Virareve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If only everything was as easy as saying the alphabet. For one Ami Mizuno, coming back to lively Tokyo was supposed to be simple fun. From the start, it seemed like a great way to catch up with everyone she knew, bond with the girls, and generally have a nice time. But then Zoisite came back into her life, and she can't help but find herself wishing for something more with her childhood crush. It's just too bad he's moving back to England after the wedding. But when opportunity presents itself, that doesn't mean she can't try to have a little fun, right? Minako, self-proclaimed love-guru, would agree for sure. So if she knows the stakes, then there's no way she can get hurt.  At least , that's what she's going to tell herself...</p>
            </blockquote>





	from A to Z

**Author's Note:**

> It's been quite some time since I last wrote anything, but with Sailor Moon Crystal out, I can't help but relive the memories all over again. This is completely AU with a lack of sailor scouts and reincarnations, but the friendships stay the same. :) To be completely honest, from the moment I started considering writing again, I knew that I really wanted to do an AU for fandom because I would love to write with the concept of no past lives - a simple tabula rasa - where the characters have no experiences (even if noncanonical) on which to build their futures.
> 
> On a side note, please make peace with the fact that in the "reality" of this story the Shitennou's names are somehow not the same as the minerals from which they are derived.

“Hey, call me when you get back, alright?” Minako’s hand was warm on her arm. All around, people exited cars and buses, steadily streaming into the terminals towards their desired gates. All of them were looking for the train that would take them to their destination. Some were looking for home.

She nodded lightly to Minako’s inquiry, carefully, as if saying anything might release a river of tears she wasn’t able to deal with.

And in truth, she couldn’t. The hurt was too much. It had all been so fast, so fleeting, and yet in such a short amount of time, she’d managed to have her heart bounded over and stomped on all over again.

“Take care of yourself,” Kunzite spoke besides his fiancé, “Makoto is concerned.”

“Well, let her know I’m fine,” she said with all the strength she could muster, “It’s her honeymoon, she not supposed to have worries.”

“But _we_ can,” Minako added gently. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

It took effort to add sincerity into her smile, but Minako would be able to call her on it if she couldn’t show some emotional depth. “I’ll be fine.” And that was the truth, or, at least, she hoped it was.

She gave her friend a brief hug, keeping the farewell quick. Soon, they were on their way and she was walking a lonely path. Around her, the din of travelers faded into a consistent white noise.

It wasn’t ever supposed to end this way, Ami thought. Her leaving Tokyo in this state and heading back like this, or him going away the way he had, it wasn’t supposed to fall apart the way it did, and yet that was the way things had occurred. And while she did regret the ending, she couldn’t feel any remorse about the way things had gone.

 

* * *

 

_Five days earlier_

 

“ _Ami!_ ”

Ami Mizuno, dedicated researcher for the University of Kyoto’s Medical Hospital, dropped her bags as she walked out of the train station. She opened her arms wide to welcome a flurry of brown that rushed into her, squeezing her until the air became faint in her lungs.

Laughing softly, she spoke to the ball of hair below her head, “It’s nice to see you too, Makoto.”

Her best friend giggled in her arms, in an apparent high of happiness and looked down at her with bright eyes, “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

Ami smiled affectionately at her friend, placing a hand over the young woman’s, “My best friend’s getting married; I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Makoto stepped back, holding onto her hand, “But how did you manage with work? You rarely get time off as is.”

She shrugged, “The hospital can survive without me for a few days,” around her a steady influx of people were rolling past, arms laden with various luggage, briefcases and purses, “and it’s not as if I hadn’t racked up vacation time.”

Makoto sounded her agreement, “Let’s take your stuff to the car, I’m sure your mom is waiting at home, I’ll drop you off and you know when to come over, right?”

“5 o’clock tonight. Should I bring anything?”

Makoto smiled and hugged Ami another time, “Save it for the bachelorette party. I’m so glad we’re getting the gang together.”

 

* * *

 

Soft lighting. Subtle, sweet smelling candles. Mood setting music. And, of course, the most wonderful appetizing food to grace the Earth.

Ami had to hand it to Makoto, her friend had planned a lovely dinner party tonight. Especially considering that Makoto was getting married in a few days, it was more surprising that she wasn’t pulling her hair out in paranoia and stress as brides were wont to do. Then again, she’d seen when it had come to Usagi’s wedding how the perfect man could make a woman forget all her troubles.

Speaking of Usagi, Ami looked up at the blonde as she relaxed into her husband, Mamoru Chiba. The young politician rubbed her stomach contentedly. “I’m four months along at this point, and the doctor says she’s looking as healthy as can be.”

“I’m so happy for you,” Ami responded delighted by this future prospect for the Chiba’s. She could already imagine Usagi’s child: all bright sunshine and pureness like her mother, with a possession of regality and elegance that both her parents held. “I’m glad it doesn’t look like there will be any complications.” She’d seen enough of that during her rounds in medical school and she was content to never have to repeat experiences in the delivery room again.

Mamoru chuckled, “Especially considering the amount of ice cream she consumes, we’ll be lucky if the baby doesn’t develop anything more than a sweet tooth.”

Usagi grinned and lightly whacked his arm, “I know Rini appreciates all the money you spend into satisfying her dietary needs, honey.”

“Rini?” Ami raised an eyebrow, inquisitively.

The proud mother-to-be placed a hand affectionately to her stomach, “Mamoru and I already agreed. We want her to have my biological mother’s name. She did so much for me, and even if she can’t be here, I want my baby girl to remember the woman who truly showed the strength of mother’s love.”

Ami couldn’t help but be touched by the chord Usagi’s reasoning struck with her heart. Usagi beamed and Ami noticed how her hand silently found Mamoru’s to share a moment of pride and hope for things to come.

In a brief moment of retrospect and observation, Ami realized her friends were carrying unbelievably blissful lives, achieving all they ever wanted from life. Usagi, had blossomed already into quite the legendary figure. Taking over the company her mother had left her, she had grown leaps and bounds in coming to manage it on her own right. When she’d entered the world of politics, she still managed to be unjaded and stalwart in her beliefs. And Mamoru, ever faithful companion and love of Usagi, was finishing up his residency and soon to be a full-fledged medical doctor. Ami couldn’t be happier for the two who turned to allow Rei and Jadeite into their conversation.

On the couch, Rei was idly resting her feet on Jadeite, her long-time boyfriend. The pair of them had previously been conversing with Michiru and Haruka until the two women had to leave to scold their nine-year old daughter Hotaru for getting into a petty argument with Diana, Artemis and Luna’s child, and put her to sleep in one of the guest bedrooms. Meanwhile, Artemis and Luna were gathering around the kitchen counter, speaking with, Artemis’ favorite cousin and Ami’s close friend, Minako, and her fiancé, Kunzite. Luna was sitting on a stool, holding Diana in her lap as the girl fought to stay awake only to constantly drop her head on her mother’s shoulder. In the entrance to the kitchen, Makoto poured a glass of red wine for Setsuna, a longtime friend of all the women in the room. Nephrite stood beside his almost wife, gently resting an arm on her waist, engaging the usually aloof Setsuna in a conversation of astrophysics.

Ami could to feel the full effects of everyone’s joy seeping into her bones. As a fairly shy and often introverted figure, her life in Kyoto didn’t go much beyond the contentment she received in the lab and at home with beloved books and puzzles completed in free time. But to be here, among friends, with the people she cared for the most in this world, she could feel the excitement bubbling in her veins. To be here when everything was going right—

 _Bang!_ The door slammed and Ami jumped slightly out of alarm. Mamoru paused his story about his latest memorable patient as Nephrite burst out, “Zoi!”

Ami’s heart missed a beat.

The blond who had just come in shook off the water that saturated his hair from the deluge outside. “Sorry, guys, I underestimated the rain outside when I left work. I practically swam here from my lab.” He ran a hand through his hair and looked up, grinning wryly as he reached back into his bag to pull something out, “But it was all in the sake of keeping this treasure okay.”

He held out a short black bottle and held it up for everyone to see. “Is that?” Jadeite’s eye’s widened in wonder and awe.

“Congrats.” Zoisite said with a wave of his hands and a mock bow for Nephrite and Makoto. He held the black bottle out like an offering.

“British Royal Naval Rum!” Nephrite shot out from the kitchen and grabbed the bottle from his friend. “Do you see this baby?” He held the bottle out for Makoto, “This bottle costs nearly 120,000 yen and my man brought this here for us.”

Makoto laughed over Neprhite’s rapture, “Thanks, Zoi, is there anything we can do to repay you? Nephrite’s been looking all over the ends of the earth for a bottle of that.”

Zoisite laughed, blue eyes twinkling and hair glowing in the dimmed room, “Make me dinner sometime and we’ll call it even.”

“Done!” Nephrite shouted, swinging an arm over his friends shoulder, “I’ll even help.”

“I’d prefer not,” Zoisite said with a scrunching of his nose, “I’d rather be run over by a car then eat your shit again.”

“Hey!”

“Watch the bottle,” Kunzite called out. He carefully sipped red wine from his glass, looking very much superior to his two friends who were now wrestling, rum bottle safely aside, on the floor of the living room.

“Boys will be small,” Minako said with a shake of her head, hair falling elegantly from its updo around her face.

“I think you mean ‘Boys will be boys’, sweetheart” Kunzite corrected.

Minako gave him a look and decidedly looked over to the small black-blue haired woman who had been silently slipping into the darkest corner of the room. Unfortunately, she had looked over the fact that this put her next to one of the most naturally attention-grabbing women in the room.

“So how’s work been, Ami?" Minako asked with a decidedly impish look on her face that made Ami uneasy.

“Fine,” she answered, suddenly feeling very tiny, “we’ve started looking into hormones prevalent with certain thinking characteristics and—”

“Any cute colleagues?”

“Well…” She could feel her cheeks coloring. It felt so odd to talk about these sort of things with everyone present.

“C’mon,” Minako goaded, her eyes lit up as if she sensed some juicy story, “I bet you know all about how good those nerdy PhDs are.”

"I don't really..." she coughed, feeling the heat rise to her face.

“Mina,” a voice interrupted reproachfully, Ami felt a familiar, warm hand on her shoulder and became faint for a moment, “Not everyone wants to broadcast their private affairs to the general public.”

“Oh, you’re such a killjoy, Zoi. Just like Kunzite,” she remarked with a glare at her significant other. Kunzite looked at her, then at them, and shrugged. “ _Fine_ ,” she announced, haughty words directed at her significant other, “ _I_ am going to see just how much Michiru and Haruka liked those sands in Tahiti.” She flounced over to the older females who had just come back to the living room and Kunzite started to follow after her with a sigh.

“It was nice to speak with you again, Ami,” he said with the trademark aloof warmth he reserved for good friends, “and it’s nice to see you too, Zoisite.” He joined Minako silently, placing a hand on her hip as she silently melded herself against his frame.

“So Ami..”

She turned around and found herself face to face with years’ worth of memories.

“It’s been awhile,” she offered him in greeting, swallowing slightly.

“So it has,” he echoed, hand ruffling through his hair. It was much shorter now, no longer the long wavy, blonde mane that Ami had always longed to run her hands through…she stopped. Well. That was out of line.

“How are you?” Zoisite asked her.

“Fine,” she answered, feeling frazzled by the sudden immersion into forgotten feelings.

Zoisite blinked. Looking lost for a moment.

She coughed slightly. “I’m sorry, where are my manners? How are you Zoisite?” She gave him a hesitant smile, “I’d heard you moved back from England, how did you like it?”

“It was all ‘very grand,’” he shrugged, “I supposed I liked it. I’m going to be heading back soon enough.”

“Really,” she was surprised, “But you were there for how many years now?”

He shrugged, “Five, but, work calls, you know?” He raised his arms in a what-can-you-do sort of way. “I’ve established myself over there. Just like _you_ did. In Kyoto. Why would I go back when I have things falling in place for me?”

Something in his voice sounded like a double-edged sword, as if he was pointing fingers at her for being gone, but she could see no reason why.

“Everyone!” Usagi had picked up a pen from the coffee table beside her and proceeded to tap her glass of—decidedly non-alcoholic—apple cider, “I’d like to propose a toast tonight!”

“Hear! Hear!” Nephrite shouted with a grin. Besides him, Makoto cheerfully raised her wine.

Usagi giggled and lifted her drink in unison. “I don’t know if I can say it enough, but I’m so glad that these two have allowed me to be part of their lives today,” she indicated her drink towards the soon to be married couple, “they are some of the best people I know and I can’t wish them enough happiness in their lives. Congrats both of you.”

Nephrite and Makoto flashed everyone singular smiles, before he swept her down in a breathtaking kiss.

Around the room, Ami’s friends let out small cheers and she couldn’t help but join in the revelry by adding one herself.

“Now just one more thing,” Makoto added as everyone brought their drinks down from their celebratory sip, “I just want to say thank you all so much for being here for Neph and mine’s wedding. You all have played such a large part in our lives and we wouldn’t be who we are or where we are without every one of you. You’ve all supported me so much, like look at Ami, she’s actually using her vacation time and I didn’t even have to drag her to the wedding.”

Everyone in the room laughed.

“And Zoi,” Nephrite added jauntily, “thanks, for staying a little longer man. I’m glad your last evening in Tokyo will be at my wedding.”

“Maybe you can find a lonely lady to share your night!” Jadeite shouted, looking smug for a moment before Rei bonked him on the head with a roll of her eyes.

Zoisite raised his glass and smiled wryly in response.

“I’ll try not to miss you guys too much.”

The women in the room awed at the sentimental gesture and Minako cried out, “To us!”

“To us!” They all echoed in return.

Ami raised her glass to her lips and as she brought her glass down, her eyes met Zoisite’s.

He flashed her a wink.

Then, like a revival of her youth, she felt a brief flutter from deep within.


End file.
